Month: August 2008

Any doubt by Hillary supporters that what poses as the Democratic Party has learned its lesson about sexism and misogyny were dispelled yesterday. Big Media and Big Democrats were busy trashing Governor Sarah Palin with smears, slurs, slime and sexism and misogyny.

The PINO Big Blogs have been even worse. One Big Blogger who had stated Joe Biden would be a “deal-breaker” for her, either does not understand the meaning of “deal-breaker”, or simply lied to her readers, but in either case the female Big Blogger is now busy questioning Governor Sarah Palin’s experience. Apparently the little woman from the tundra lacks experience, even with all her achievements in office but Kaine (elected in 2005) as a VP pick would have been fine. The notion that Obama Hopium eaters denounce a lack of experience is a full out joke.

Other female Big Bloggers who formerly supported Senator Hillary Clinton are now questioning Governor Sarah Palin’s experience even though for months they wrote repeatedly Obama had no experience other than in repeatedly advancing himself by running for office as soon as he got elected to whatever office he had just run for. Obama accomplishments are nil but dishonest bloggers now dare to question the abilities and experience of Governor Sarah Palin.

Other loathesome PINO Big Blogs such as the Talking Pimps Memo which has shilled for Obama and trashed Hillary now dream of Hillary Clinton advertisements attacking Governor Sarah Palin. Those that trashed Hillary now see Hillary as the salvation of the corrupt unDemocratic Party.

Big Media has been broadcasting Big Democrats in full misogyny and sexism. Yesterday Paul Begala attributed Governor Sarah Palin’s “poise” to the fact that she was a beauty queen at one time in her life. John Roberts at CNN questioned why Governor Sarah Palin is running for Vice President and not tending to her Down’s Syndrome child. Big Media John Roberts wants Governor Sarah Palin to stay barefoot and pregnant in the bedroom tending to her stove and ironing his shirts.

So vile was John Roberts’ comment that Dana Bash recognized the outright sexism and misogyny. So vile was John Roberts’ sexism and misogyny that Dana Bash was moved to respond. She said “That’s a very good question, and … my guess is that, perhaps, the line inside the McCain campaign would be, ‘If it were a man being picked who also had a baby… four months ago with Down syndrome, would you ask the same question?’”

For Hillary supporters the sexist attacks on Governor Sarah Palin are attacks reminiscent of the sexist attacks by Obama and Big Media on Senator Hillary Clinton.

The PINO Big Blogs and Big Media and Big Democrats and the unDemocratic Party say that Governor Sarah Palin will not get Hillary supporters’ votes – as if they have any clue about Hillary supporters. Hillary supporters will speak for themselves individually. Some Hillary supporters will vote for Governor Sarah Palin because it is a vote for Hillary Clinton by proxy. A vote for Governor Sarah Palin, many think, will fight misogyny, and defeat the unDemocratic Party of Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi. Many Hillary supporters will put aside policy/issues differences with McCain/Palin in order to defeat the untrustworthy and unqualified Obama and as a refusal to reward electorally the unDemocratic Party.

Hillary supporters laugh when PINO Big Blogs and Big Media state that Joe Biden ‘will destroy’ Governor Sarah Palin in debate by turning Governor Palin into Danny Qualye and say “I know Senator Clinton and Palin you are no Clinton”. PINO Big Blogs and Big Media dream that Biden will note during the debates that Governor Sarah Palin has no experience. We suspect that Governor Sarah Palin will answer the experience question and quote Biden to Biden.

Obama is not qualified to be president.

The attacks by PINO Big Blogs on Governor Sarah Palin are an attack on all women, by proxy.

The attacks on Governor Sarah Palin to many Hillary supporters are the same as the attacks on Hillary Clinton.

Many Hillary Clinton supporters will indeed, this NOvember, vote for Hillary Clinton by proxy by voting for Governor Sarah Palin.

[Waiting for McCain announcement of Vice Presidential choice. We’ll update as soon as the potentially shocking and historic news is 100% confirmed.

UPDATE: It is Sarah Palin for McCain’s VP.

Quick thoughts in one paragraph:

This is a shocking and brilliant choice by McCain. McCain/Palin announce in must-win OHIO. Stomps out the Obama funeral story. If McCain does not run for re-election the 44 year old Palin will be the Republican nominee in 2012. If the Democrats can be bought back to life after they are destroyed in NOvember and in 2010 they will have to nominate a women to run against Palin in 2012. Hillary. Yes, Hillary. Palin will help win women around the country. Palin will help with women in the Philadelphia suburbs. Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania will likely go with NRA member and hunter Palin. The Republican Party is now 100% unified and not in a fake way. The Republicans are showing they once again know how to run an election. This is a shocking announcement with not much of a buildup (most thought it would be dull Romney, Pawlenty, or generic white male) which compares brilliantly against the trumpted weeks long hype of the Obama campaign – a big buildup for a dud. Women will savage the Democratic Party and Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi for their sexism and misogyny. Palin, whose political views we do not share, is well-spoken and articulate and tough. Palin is a maverick hated by the Alaska Republican Party because she has challenged them on ethics. Hillary’s 18 million voters (many disenfranchised by the Democratic(?) Party) will determine this election and they just have by rejection of Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi. The upcoming hurricane is potentially good news for McCain/Palin and not a problem if they use it to advantage. McCain/Palin can contrast their care by either postponing the Republican convention (which helps with financing a shorter general election season and gaining additional days of Republican control of the news cycles) or they can actually demonstrate they care by going to New Orleans or whereever the hurricane hits. McCain has made a big bold amazing pick which knocks Obama’s fake campaign to the dirt – buried.]

Having committed suicide, the unDemocratic Party chose to have a state funeral in Denver. The jut-jawed Barack Obama strutted onto a massive constructed stage which Il Duce would have loved.

Michelle Obama broke out another cocktail dress from her Chicago supply house of cocktail dresses and joined her husband to preside at the unDemocratic funeral in Denver.

Big Media was jubiliant – their tool finally had the nomination. But as we have written repeatedly, Obama will eventually concede – in NOvember.

Real Democrats mourned. President Lyndon Johnson who signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 was ignored. Ignoring LBJ was without doubt a concession to the Kennedy family.

Obama is a quick change artist who yesterday tried to change his guise into Hillary by plagarizing Hillary’s words and speeches. Fortunately for Hillary, Obama ignored tradition and did not bring, as is normal at these events, a flotilla of Democrats on stage with him. The spectacle was all Obama and for once we are thankful.

When something beautiful dies it is up to loved ones to preserve the memory and the glories of living days. Usually photographs are displayed and old memories of better days are relived. Glory days are recounted and the dead briefly return to the quick.

Yesterday, the Democratic Party of the FDR coalition committed suicide.

True Democrats will remember and regret the suicide of the Democratic Party. Hillary supporters must not only cherish the memory of the FDR coalition Democratic Party but fight to breathe life anew and restore that coalition for justice.

For Hillary supporters at Big Pink, and everywhere else, the duty is to remember and fight. Like patriots in occupied France, patriots in the 13 colonies when Royalists commanded at the point of gun American cities, real Democrats will not only preserve the memory of the great Democratic Party of FDR, but gather in resistance. We will organize and fight to galvanize the Democratic Party from death and to great purpose.

For us no Greek temples. Hillary supporters have many more fights left to fight. Hillary supporters at Big Pink and elsewhere also have much to be proud of.

If not for Hillary supporters the voters of Michigan and Florida would not have been counted nor heard.

If not for Hillary supporters the voters of every state after Iowa would not have voted. If not for Hillary supporters the voters of Pennsylvania and Indiana and North Carolina and Nebraska and West Virginia and Kentucky and Oregon and Montana and South Dakota, in particular would not have voted.

It was Hillary and Hillary supporters, true Democrats, who fought for the right to vote and to have the vote counted as the votes were cast.

Big Pink will not allow the voter disenfranchisements of 2008 to be forgotten. Like Banquo’s ghost we will not go away. Like King Hamlet’s ghost we will shout “Remember”. We will not allow the glories of the Democratic Party of FDR to be forgotten nor buried. We will fight to restore the party of FDR to life and glory.

Here at Big Pink we continue the fight against the sexism and misogyny of Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi. Here at Big Pink we continue to remind every day, by our very existence, by our very name, the travesties and treacheries committed by Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi and Big Media.

The corpse that labels itself as the Obama Democratic Party must be defeated in NOvember. The Obama Democratic Party must not be rewarded for sexisim, misogyny, and voter disenfranchisemen with electoral successt. The Obama Democratic Party must be punished with devastating, wakeful, DEFEAT.

We will not go away into the good night. We fight on.

We live to continue the struggles for justice but the Democratic Party is dead.

For Hillary supporters, for those of us here at Big Pink issues do matter and are worth fighting for. For us Obama must be defeated in NOvember. We have written before and we repeat today our reasoning to oppose Obama in NOvember: Better to fight McCain and the Republicans with Democratic majorities forced to fight than to bow to Obama’s betrayals of core Democratic principles and appeasements to Republicans. Obama cannot be trusted by neither friend nor foe. We want Democratic elected officials to fight for core Democratic principles. Obama would betray Democratic principles, appease the worse of Republican demands and anyone who opposed Obama as in the past would be called a “racist”. We say NObama, NOvember.

The Democratic Party is dead. Rigor Mortis is setting in.

* * *

Already the Obama campaign is in full treachery and full retreat. Remember that 50 state strategy that became the 48 state strategy when they disenfranchised Florida and Michigan that became the 46 state strategy when they snubbed Kentucky and West Virginia? It’s now down to an 18 state strategy.

We tried to get Plouffe to react to a spate of national polls showing a tightening race.

“All we care about is these 18 states,” he said. He repeated, with emphasis, that the campaign does not care about national polling. Instead, the campaign’s own identification, registration and canvassing efforts provide the data he uses to determine where to invest money and resources.

Obama’s Democratic presidential campaign has put too much emphasis on his abstract message of hope and change, and not enough on explaining how his specific policies would help voters struggling to make ends meet, Bredesen, a Democrat, told Politico. [snip]

Bredesen’s remarks to Politico were similar to those expressed by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) in a news conference during the Democratic National Convention, according to the New York Post.

“There has been some criticism of Barack Obama that I think has been deserved,” Weiner said. “Sometimes he does not make specific enough his vision.”

There is little about him that feels spontaneous or unpolished, and even after two books, thousands of campaign events and countless hours on television, many Americans say they do not feel they know him. The charges of elusiveness puzzle those closest to the candidate. Far more than most politicians, they say, he is the same in public as he is in private. [snip]

…first Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and now Senator John McCain, that he has not spent enough time earning and learning, that his main project in life has been his own ascent. [snip]

The McCain campaign has seized on this pattern, mocking their opponent as a self-consumed star, even suggesting that he has a messianic complex.

Obama has heard the charges before. Long before the presidential race, some around him seemed to resent his ability to galvanize a following. “Bluebooking is not important for celebrities,” fellow students joked about him in the law review parody, referring to the tedious process of checking citations.

As for the messiah charge, Michael Madigan, the speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and a Democrat, once publicly called Obama the same thing.

The anxiety comes in several forms, but particularly common is the pained look, followed by the quick glance away and the lengthy pause, in the face of a simple question: How is Barack Obama doing?

“Ahhh . . .,” said Barry Bogarde, political director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Pennsylvania, a battleground state that the senator from Illinois needs to win. “Better,” he finally said. “He’s doing better.”

Asked how things are going for Democrats in New Hampshire, another swing state that the party carried in 2004, the state party chairman, Ray Buckley, did not even mention Obama’s race against Sen. John McCain. He talked instead about efforts to win a Senate race and hold two congressional seats.

Jim Beasley, the commissioner of Ohio’s Department of Transportation, did not have high hopes for Obama in his area of southern Ohio. “Ahhh, well. Rural Ohio will be difficult,” he said. “Rural areas are difficult for him.”

As the Democrats kicked off a convention designed to unite support behind Obama, interviews with several dozen delegates pointed to an undercurrent of anxiety among many from key swing states who will be charged with leading the push in their communities. They expressed doubts bordering on bewilderment: Why, in a year that had been shaping up as a watershed for Democrats, amid an economic downturn and an unpopular Republican presidency, is the race so tight?

Sexism and misogyny will not be forgotten:

Some have also shown signs of still being focused on the Democratic primaries and not being fully invested in the general-election effort. On Sunday night, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland echoed recent comments by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell that media coverage during the primaries had been biased in Obama’s favor. And several top Clinton advisers will not be staying in Denver to see Obama accept the nomination, according to sources familiar with their schedules.

A CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll of registered voters released Sunday found that roughly two-thirds of self-identified Clinton supporters are now backing Obama, while 27 percent said they will vote for McCain. Other polls have shown Obama receiving less support from Clinton backers.

The hidden “I told you so.”

Bogarde’s superior, AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee, was more blunt. “It shouldn’t be as close as it is now. It just seems to me it shouldn’t be that close. It should be a no-brainer,” he said.

The union spent heavily on Clinton’s campaign before lining up behind Obama, but McEntee insisted that his concern about the closeness of the race is not meant as an “I told you so.”

Obama’s most ardent admirers, who include much of the political press and practically all of the liberal intelligentsia, will almost certainly report and analyze the event as a mammoth historical occasion, and quite possibly praise the speech as one of the greatest political orations ever. [snip]

Since the end of World War II, every Democrat who has sought the presidency has attempted to update the legacy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. From Harry Truman to Bill Clinton, those elected president have refreshed the liberal tradition by promising to put their own stamp upon it, and then doing so. After 40 years of mostly Republican control of the White House, it should be clear that mistakes and overreaching have hampered liberalism’s evolution. But by renewing the idea that government has an important role to play in expanding the opportunities and well-being of ordinary Americans, the basic Democratic tradition has survived through thick and thin.

Senator Obama’s efforts to reinterpret the Democratic legacy have thus far amounted chiefly to promising a dramatic break with the status quo. His rhetoric of “hope” and “change” has thrilled millions of Democrats and helped secure the party’s nomination. Yet millions of other Democrats still find his appeals wispy and unconvincing, and the persistent coolness within the ranks worries some party veterans. Democratic governors have already urged him to be more explicit about how he intends to adjust the party’s principles to meet today’s challenges.

Sean Wilentz retraces the rivers of history flowing from FDR’s New Deal and Truman’s Fair Deal liberalism. Kennedy’s New Frontier which “explicity invoked the New Deal and Fair Deal as ‘bold measures for their generations,’ but also laid out the basic framework for his own New Frontier as a set of specific challenges, international and domestic”, Johnson’s triumphs and fiascoes are noted.

Wilentz notes that Kennedy and Johnson by their embrace of civil rights “fundamentally changed the Democratic Party by causing the political implosion of the formerly solid Democratic South, while making the Democrats the new political legatees of Abraham Lincoln.” and “LBJ’s Great Society represented the full flowering of New-Deal-style liberalism before it was stalled by the financial and political costs of Vietnam and urban racial unrest.”

Then came one-term Jimmy Carter with “his different brand of politics”. Wilentz warns that Democrats ignore Carter’s brand of politics

“and its fate, at their peril. Carter ran against “Washington” on the slogan “A Leader, for a Change,” and on his brains and personal authenticity: “Why Not the Best?” After he only narrowly defeated Gerald Ford, he came to office with the advantage of enormous Democratic majorities in both the House and the Senate (where he had a filibuster-proof 62 Democratic seats). In the wake of the Vietnam debacle and the Watergate scandal, Carter—an outsider and a decidedly non-imperial anti-politician—stressed the virtues of truthfulness, efficiency and technical expertise above either partisanship or new federal programs. In foreign policy, recoiling from Vietnam, he focused on the use of diplomacy to advance the ideal of human rights around the globe.

Yet little seemed to go right for the earnest president. The economy, hit by repeated oil shortages and hikes in oil prices, remained trapped in a combination of high unemployment and runaway inflation. Impatient with and at times heedless of the political prerogatives jealously guarded on Capitol Hill, Carter quickly found his relations with his own congressional majority deteriorating.

Although he won notable victories in foreign affairs, including the Panama Canal Treaty and the Camp David accords, Carter’s “soft power” approach was overwhelmed by the capture of American hostages in Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In an extraordinary speech in mid-1979, Carter blamed the troubles on a “crisis of confidence” of the American people themselves. His gloomy diagnosis of the nation’s malaise set the stage for the entrance of the beaming conservative champion, Ronald Reagan.

Bill Clinton was the first president to take office after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and he began his presidency committed chiefly to reducing the federal deficit and the economic inequities created during the administrations of Reagan and George H.W. Bush with a Democratic liberalism updated for the 1990s. By the end of his second term, he could boast that he had helped turn crippling deficits into the largest federal surpluses in American history. He also could point to a prolonged economic boom that benefited Americans across the lines of class, race, region and ethnicity. Following calamities in Bosnia, Somalia and Haiti, and after the Western nations’ catastrophic inaction in Rwanda, Clinton had shifted course and both revived and revised America’s forceful sense of purpose in world affairs, from the Balkans to Northern Ireland.

Wilentz notes the glories and the problems of the Clinton presidency:

Clinton suffered through major domestic blunders as well, above all the political debacle concerning his ambitious health-care proposals. Some of Clinton’s initiatives—signing the North American Free Trade Agreement, a welfare-reform bill and balancing the budget—infuriated the left of his own party. Meanwhile, right-wing Republican efforts to demolish him bore bitter fruit with his impeachment. Yet amid the peace and prosperity of his final year, with his public popularity soaring, Clinton appeared to have created successfully a new, post-New Deal liberalism that was moving the country beyond Reaganite conservatism—reversing regressive fiscal policies that had virtually bankrupted the federal government; spreading economic growth more broadly; finding a new balance of American force and diplomacy in foreign affairs, and countering racial polarization and right-wing antigovernment fervor with appointments, policies and speeches that promoted what Clinton called the ideal of “One America.”

Clinton ended the endless Republican “welfare queen” campaigns with welfare reform and Clinton prosperity helped all Americans especially the poor. Clinton fought Republican power at its height and broke the right-wing fever that threatened a long term realignment of American politics.

Then disaster came from the eggheads of the left and Tipper Gore’s personal desires to avoid the Clintons:

But the election of 2000 stopped the Clintonian experiment short, for reasons ranging from the destructive left-wing campaign of Ralph Nader, to Al Gore’s strategic error of distancing himself from a successful record, to the dubious, one-vote majority decision in Bush v. Gore. George W. Bush’s administration, despite its thin mandate, moved federal policy sharply right—a heavily politicized shift that accelerated under the cover of Bush’s War on Terror following the atrocities of September 11, 2001.

After the 2008 voter disenfranchisement of Florida and Michigan by the Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi Democratic Party, those Democrats can no longer complain about Bush v. Gore. Wilentz notes the long list of Bush failures. Wilentz notes the Obama treachery and that Obama=Carteresque failure:

Against this backdrop, how has the presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, proposed to revivify Democratic liberalism? There is a quotation that ought to give Democrats, and not just Democrats, pause: “This year will not be a year of politics as usual. It can be a year of inspiration and hope, and it will be a year of concern, of quiet and sober reassessment of our nation’s character and purpose. It has already been a year when voters have confounded the experts. And I guarantee you that it will be the year when we give the government of this country back to the people of this country. There is a new mood in America. We have been shaken by a tragic war abroad and by scandals and broken promises at home. Our people are searching for new voices and new ideas and new leaders.”

Delivered in Obama’s exhortatory cadences, the words are uplifting. The trouble is, though they seem to fit, the passage is from Carter’s acceptance speech at the Democratic convention in 1976.

The convergence is revealing. As Republican strategists have begun to notice with delight, Obama’s liberal alternative to the post-Bush GOP to date has much in common with Carter’s post-Watergate liberalism. Rejecting “politics as usual,” attacking “Washington” as the problem, promising to heal the breaches and hurts caused by partisan political polarization, pledging to break the grip that lobbyists and special interests hold over the national government, wearing his Christian faith on his sleeve as a key to his mind, heart and soul—in all of these ways, Obama resembles Jimmy Carter more than he does any other Democratic president in living memory.

In other ways, Obama’s liberal vision appears clouded, uncertain and even contradictory. During his four years in Washington, he has compiled one of the most predictably liberal voting records in the Senate—yet he presents himself as an advocate of bipartisanship and ideological flexibility. He has offered himself as the tribune of sweeping change—yet he also proclaims national unity, as if transformation can come without struggle. He has emerged as the champion of a new, post-racial politics, even though he has only grudgingly separated himself from his pastor of 20 years, who every week preached a gospel of “black liberation theology” that has everything to do with racial politics.

Race is Obama’s wedge issue and race-baiting his tool to steal success:

The most obvious change to liberal politics Obama has to offer is the color of his skin. Some of his supporters have, whether wittingly or not, been candid enough to say, as Sen. John Kerry did last March, that Obama’s blackness is the rationale for making him president. But it is difficult to square such claims with Obama’s appeal to a liberalism that transcends race. And when Obama himself subtly and not so subtly draws attention to his color, and charges that the John McCain Republicans will try to scare voters by saying he “doesn’t look like all those presidents on the dollar bills,” he turns voting for him into an intrinsically virtuous act, proof that one has resisted base appeals to racism (which, in fact, the McCain campaign has not made).

Much of Obama’s appeal to the left stems from what might be called the romance of the community organizer. Although his organizing career on Chicago’s South Side was brief and, by his own admission, unremarkable, it distinguishes him as another first of his kind in presidential politics, a candidate who looks at politics from the bottom up. For the left, community organizing trumps party politics and experience in government. Some even imagine that Obama is a secret radical, and they see his emergence as an unparalleled opportunity for advancing their frustrated agendas about issues ranging from the redistribution of wealth to curtailing U.S. power abroad.

Wilentz has written a powerful analysis of the Obama flim-flam and the dangers Obama represents – to Democrats and Democratic core values.

No Experience and Judgement:

Obama still has a long way to go to describe the kind of liberalism he stands for, how it meets the enormous challenges of the present—and how it will meet as-yet-unanticipated challenges after the election. Nowhere is this more crucial than in the harsh and volatile realm of foreign policy. Last winter, when his candidacy gained traction, Obama’s foreign-policy credentials consisted almost entirely of a speech he gave before a left-wing rally in Chicago in 2002, denouncing the impending invasion of Iraq as “a dumb war.” That speech, made by a state senator representing a liberal district that included the University of Chicago, and that went unreported in the Chicago Tribune’s lengthy article on the rally, was enough to convince many of his supporters that he is blessed with superior acumen and good instincts about foreign affairs. Later comments, such as his promise, later softened, to meet directly and “without preconditions” with the leaders of Iran and other supporters of terrorism, pleased left-wing Democrats and young antiwar voters as a sign of boldness—even as they left experienced diplomats in wonder at such half-baked formulations.

Then, suddenly this summer, Russia attacked Georgia—and Obama’s immediate reaction was to call for reasonableness and good intentions and urge both sides to show restraint and enter into direct talks. Unfortunately his appeal sounded almost like a caricature of liberal wishful thinking. It was left to his opponent, John McCain—whose own past judgments on foreign policy demand scrutiny—to declare right away the sort of thing that might have come naturally to previous generations of liberal Democrats (let alone to a conservative Republican): that “Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory.” Beyond the matter of experience, beyond how thoroughly the two candidates had thought through the situation, the difference highlighted how Obama still lacks a comprehensive vision of international politics.

Wilentz echoes Big Pink arguments:

That Obama’s record and statements have created any other impression cannot be ascribed only to his campaign’s political skills and the news media’s favor. Liberal intellectuals have largely abdicated their responsibility to provide unblinking and rigorous analysis instead of paeans to Obama’s image. Hardly any prominent liberal thinkers stepped forward to question Obama’s rationalizations about his relationship with his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. Instead, they hailed his ever-changing self-justifications and sometimes tawdry logic—equating his own white grandmother’s discomfort in the presence of a menacing stranger with Wright’s hateful sermons—as worthy of the monumental addresses of Lincoln. Liberal intellectuals actually could have aided their candidate, while also doing their professional duty, by pressing him on his patently evasive accounts about various matters, such as his connections with the convicted wheeler-dealer Tony Rezko, or his more-than-informal ties to the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers, including their years of association overseeing an expensive, high-profile, but fruitless public-school reform effort in Chicago. Instead, the intellectuals have failed Obama as well as their readers by branding such questioning as irrelevant, malicious or heretical.

Obama is a loser. We must revive the Democratic Party as the Party of FDR and Clinton.

Can Obama, who lost the large industrial states in the primaries, deal with a troubled economy and become the standard bearer for the working and middle classes—the historic core of the Democratic Party that the last two Democratic candidates lost? Can the inexperienced candidate persuasively outline a new foreign policy that addresses the quagmires left by the Bush administration and faces the challenges of terrorism and a resurgent Russia? Can the less-than-one-term senator become the master of the Congress and enact goals such as universal health care that have eluded Democratic presidents since Truman? On these fundamental questions may hang the fate of Obama’s candidacy. In the absence of a compelling record, set speeches, even with the most stirring words, will not resolve these matters. And until he resolves them, Obama will remain the most unformed candidate in the modern history of presidential politics.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal coalition is alive and well. FDR’s coalition is the only coalition for Democratic victory. Hillary Clinton as an advocate of the FDR coalition is alive and well. Bill Clinton is alive and well. Hillary Clinton supporters are alive and well.

It is the Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi Democratic Party that is dead. Already Rigor Mortis has set in. We will bury the corpse of the Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi Democratic Party in NOvember.

We use the word “suicide” with trepidation. Anyone who has known a friend on a destructive path, or anyone who has had a family member or friend or even an acquaintance who has committed suicide knows how painful that desperate act is.

There are always a million “what ifs?” after a suicide. Family and friends usually feel there is something they could have done “if only”. And there is always remorse.

At some point today, possibly employing methods antithetical to Democracy, the Democratic Party will vote for its candidate for president. The Democratic Party will vote to nominate Hillary Clinton for president or the Party will commit suicide.

Hillary Clinton’s majestic speech last night does not help the unqualified-to-be-president Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton’s kind words about Barack Obama last night merely underline the obvious: Hillary must be the Democratic Party nominee if there is any chance to win the White House this year.

But the Democratic Party is on course to self-slaughter.

True Blue Democratic Delegate Anne Price-Mills:

“They may have to call me.”

* * *

A woman qualified to be president spoke last night to the Democratic Party and especially to the Democratic grassroots. A woman qualified to be president and who can win, not lose, this important election amazed the nation last night. A woman Americans can trust who has a 35 year record of accomplishments. A woman ready to lead on Day 1. A woman Americans can trust spoke last night.

I haven’t spent the past 35 years in the trenches advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women’s rights at home and around the world . . . to see another Republican in the White House squander the promise of our country and the hopes of our people.

And you haven’t worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership.[snip]

Tonight we need to remember what a Presidential election is really about. When the polls have closed, and the ads are finally off the air, it comes down to you — the American people, your lives, and your children’s futures.

For me, it’s been a privilege to meet you in your homes, your workplaces, and your communities. Your stories reminded me everyday that America’s greatness is bound up in the lives of the American people — your hard work, your devotion to duty, your love for your children, and your determination to keep going, often in the face of enormous obstacles.

You taught me so much, you made me laugh, and . . . you even made me cry. You allowed me to become part of your lives. And you became part of mine.

I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two kids with autism, didn’t have health insurance and discovered she had cancer. But she greeted me with her bald head painted with my name on it and asked me to fight for health care.

I will always remember the young man in a Marine Corps t-shirt who waited months for medical care and said to me: “Take care of my buddies; a lot of them are still over there….and then will you please help take care of me?”

I will always remember the boy who told me his mom worked for the minimum wage and that her employer had cut her hours. He said he just didn’t know what his family was going to do.

I will always be grateful to everyone from all fifty states, Puerto Rico and the territories, who joined our campaign on behalf of all those people left out and left behind by the Bush Administrtation.

Along the way, America lost two great Democratic champions who would have been here with us tonight. One of our finest young leaders, Arkansas Democratic Party Chair, Bill Gwatney, who believed with all his heart that America and the South could be and should be Democratic from top to bottom.

And Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a dear friend to many of us, a loving mother and courageous leader who never gave up her quest to make America fairer and smarter, stronger and better. Steadfast in her beliefs, a fighter of uncommon grace, she was an inspiration to me and to us all.

Our heart goes out to Stephanie’s son, Mervyn, Jr, and Bill’s wife, Rebecca, who traveled to Denver to join us at our convention.

Bill and Stephanie knew that after eight years of George Bush, people are hurting at home, and our standing has eroded around the world. We have a lot of work ahead.

Jobs lost, houses gone, falling wages, rising prices. The Supreme Court in a right-wing headlock and our government in partisan gridlock. The biggest deficit in our nation’s history. Money borrowed from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis.

Putin and Georgia, Iraq and Iran.

I ran for President to renew the promise of America. To rebuild the middle class and sustain the American Dream, to provide the opportunity to work hard and have that work rewarded, to save for college, a home and retirement, to afford the gas and groceries and still have a little left over each month.

To promote a clean energy economy that will create millions of green collar jobs.

To create a health care system that is universal, high quality, and affordable so that parents no longer have to choose between care for themselves or their children or be stuck in dead end jobs simply to keep their insurance.

To create a world class education system and make college affordable again.

To fight for an America defined by deep and meaningful equality – from civil rights to labor rights, from women’s rights to gay rights, from ending discrimination to promoting unionization to providing help for the most important job there is: caring for our families. To help every child live up to his or her God-given potential.

To make America once again a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws.

To bring fiscal sanity back to Washington and make our government an instrument of the public good, not of private plunder.

To restore America’s standing in the world, to end the war in Iraq, bring our troops home and honor their service by caring for our veterans.

And to join with our allies to confront our shared challenges, from poverty and genocide to terrorism and global warming.

Most of all, I ran to stand up for all those who have been invisible to their government for eight long years.[snip]

I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?

We need leaders once again who can tap into that special blend of American confidence and optimism that has enabled generations before us to meet our toughest challenges. Leaders who can help us show ourselves and the world that with our ingenuity, creativity, and innovative spirit, there are no limits to what is possible in America.

This won’t be easy. Progress never is. But it will be impossible if we don’t fight to put a Democrat in the White House.[snip]

…America can’t compete in a global economy by padding the pockets of energy speculators, while ignoring the workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas. We need a President who understands that we can’t solve the problems of global warming by giving windfall profits to the oil companies while ignoring opportunities to invest in new technologies that will build a green economy.

We need a President who understands that the genius of America has always depended on the strength and vitality of the middle class.[snip]

Democrats know how to do this. As I recall, President Clinton and the Democrats did it before. [snip]

More of a government where the privileged come first …and everyone else comes last.

John McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound. John McCain doesn’t think that 47 million people without health insurance is a crisis. John McCain wants to privatize Social Security. And in 2008, he still thinks it’s okay when women don’t earn equal pay for equal work.

With an agenda like that, it makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they’re awfully hard to tell apart.

America is still around after 232 years because we have risen to the challenge of every new time, changing to be faithful to our values of equal opportunity for all and the common good.

And I know what that can mean for every man, woman, and child in America. I’m a United States Senator because in 1848 a group of courageous women and a few brave men gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, many traveling for days and nights, to participate in the first convention on women’s rights in our history.

And so dawned a struggle for the right to vote that would last 72 years, handed down by mother to daughter to granddaughter – and a few sons and grandsons along the way.

These women and men looked into their daughters’ eyes, imagined a fairer and freer world, and found the strength to fight. To rally and picket. To endure ridicule and harassment. To brave violence and jail.

And after so many decades – 88 years ago on this very day – the 19th amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote would be forever enshrined in our Constitution.

My mother was born before women could vote. But in this election my daughter got to vote for her mother for President.

This is the story of America. Of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.

How do we give this country back to them?

By following the example of a brave New Yorker , a woman who risked her life to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad.

And on that path to freedom, Harriett Tubman had one piece of advice.

If you hear the dogs, keep going.If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.

If they’re shouting after you, keep going.

Don’t ever stop. Keep going.

If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to keep going.

I’ve seen it in you. I’ve seen it in our teachers and firefighters, nurses and police officers, small business owners and union workers, the men and women of our military – you always keep going.

We are Americans. We’re not big on quitting. [snip]

We don’t have a moment to lose or a vote to spare.

Nothing less than the fate of our nation and the future of our children hang in the balance.

I want you to think about your children and grandchildren come election day. And think about the choices your parents and grandparents made that had such a big impact on your life and on the life of our nation.

We’ve got to ensure that the choice we make in this election honors the sacrifices of all who came before us, and will fill the lives of our children with possibility and hope.

That is our duty, to build that bright future, and to teach our children that in America there is no chasm too deep, no barrier too great – and no ceiling too high – for all who work hard, never back down, always keep going, have faith in God, in our country, and in each other.

Thank you so much. God bless America and Godspeed to you all.

Americans who care about issues, Americans who want a qualified Democratic president in the White House are waiting for the Democratic Party to nominate Hillary Clinton.

Today Americans are watching to see if the Democratic Party chooses Hillary Clinton or chooses suicide.

The Disco Democratic convention with shifting lights, and bathed in blue was less Brady Bunch, more Addams Family. Besides a mirrored disco ball the only other glittery ornament missing was John Edwards cradling a fatherless baby.

Naughty James Carville spoke for the few viewers of the Disco Democratic Convention: “If this party has a message, they did a hell of a job hiding it tonight.”

Carville is wrong. The Democrats are sending a message loud and clear with the Disco Democratic Convention. And the message ain’t pretty.

The Democratic message is that of a personality cult. After spending over a quarter of a billion dollars Barack Obama is still selling himself, not just his books. After spending well over 300 million dollars the American voter is still saying “keep the change”. Now the Democratic(?) Party has joined the cult and spending money on behalf of cult leader. 300 million dollars plus what the Democratic (?) Party is now spending and still it’s “no sale”. Americans know Obama is not qualified to be president and John McCain is taking full advantage of that reality.

The Democratic Disco convention is missing a mirror ball, John Edwards (with baby) and either John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever garb or perhaps the Studio 54 “cocaine spoon” swaying over the dancers. Absent that, they sent out Michelle.

Michelle Obama, wife of the cult leader, daughter of the corrupt Chicago machine, took to the stage last night in the $600 earrings she bought with the Bush tax rebate. Michelle gave a soul-less performance in her new “acceptable to the bitter and the clingy” guise.

Unfortunately for Michelle this election features Youtube. Some commentators have even dubbed this the “Youtube election” because it is the first presidential election ever in which Youtube has played a part or even existed. And we do remember Michelle pre make-over. Remember this Michelle, with pulled back hair, attempting to insult Hillary?

Then of course there is Michelle Obama, pre make-over, refusing to unite. The Michelle Obama we remember is the one who would not promise to endorse the winner of the nomination. Many Democrats will remember and identify and do as Michelle would do.

The made over Michelle and the made over Disco Democrats are like Obama, LOSERS.

Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Aug. 23-25, the first three-day period falling entirely after Obama’s Saturday morning vice presidential announcement, shows 46% of national registered voters backing John McCain and 44% supporting Obama, not appreciably different from the previous week’s standing for both candidates. This is the first time since Obama clinched the nomination in early June, though, that McCain has held any kind of advantage over Obama in Gallup Poll Daily tracking.

shows Barack Obama attracting 44% of the vote while John McCain also earns 44%. When “leaners” are included, it’s still tied with Obama at 46% and McCain at 46%. Yesterday, with leaners, Obama had a three-point advantage over McCain (see recent daily results). Tracking Polls are released at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time each day. Sign up for free daily e-mail update.

Obama is supported by 78% of Democrats while McCain gets the vote from 85% of Republicans. The GOP hopeful also has a slight advantage among unaffiliated voters. [snip]

Obama’s support has declined in each of the last three individual nights of polling. This may be either statistical noise or a reaction to the selection of Biden. If it’s the latter, it probably has less to do with Biden than Hillary Clinton.

Sen. Barack Obama has launched an all-out effort to block a Republican billionaire’s efforts to tie him to domestic and foreign terrorists in a wave of negative television ads.

Obama’s campaign has written the Department of Justice demanding a criminal investigation of the “American Issues Project,” the vehicle through which Dallas investor Harold Simmons is financing the advertisements. The Obama campaign — and tens of thousands of supporters — also is pressuring television networks and affiliates to reject the ads. The effort has met with some success: CNN and Fox News are not airing the attacks.[snip]

Bauer’s letter called on the Justice Department to open “an investigation of the American Issues Project; its officers and directors; and its anonymous donors, whoever they may be.”

“This is a sad ploy to circumvent the First Amendment by a campaign who has no arguments with the merits of our ad. It’s the classic maneuver: If you can’t win on the merits, file a lawsuit,” said a spokesman for the American Issues Project, Christian Pinkston, who said his group’s non-profit status allowed it to participate in elections as long as it does a majority of policy work, which it plans to do.[snip]

The Obama campaign plans to punish the stations that air the ad financially, an Obama aide said, organizing his supporters to target the stations that air it and their advertisers.

But the ad continues to air widely. Evan Tracey, who tracks campaign advertising at TNS Media Intelligence, said it has been broadcast 150 times in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Michigan. Federal Election Commission reports indicate that Simmons has spent more than $2.8 million buying ads.

The Obama intimidation letters are amusing. Imagine, only the Obama campaign expects “Justice” from the Bush “Justice” Department. It’s like expecting the truth and openness from the Obama campaign – a total joke.

Obama should long ago released his hidden papers. If American voters had the information necessary to make an honest decision about Obama the ads Obama tries to shut down would not have such impact. Obama should come clean. Obama should come clean about all his running mates, Rezko/Ayres/Wright.

* * *

Tonight Hillary will deliver The Goods. No doubt Hillary’s speech wil be brilliant. Her talk a celestial choir. But we will see The Bad and it will still be NObama, NOvember.

Hillary’s speech will take place on Women’s Equality Day. The events at the Disco Democrats convention will be an ugly joke to women. This 88th year of women finally able to vote reminds us that women are still being sent to the back of the bus. And that’s not Good, that’s Bad and Ugly.

Tonight, the first night of the unDemocratic Party convention, the unpopular Michelle Obama will try to bamboozle Americans into voting for her “stinky” (Michelle’s word) husband.

“Stinky” B.O. is not qualified to be president.

Hillary Clinton supporters care about the issues and want to drive out the Republicans from control of our lives. The problem for Obama is that we care about the issues and Hillary Clinton supporters also want to win.

Obama supporters email us ever day with pleas to “unite” and support the unqualifed Obama.

The emails we receive every hour on the hour beg us to consider that Obama and Hillary allegedly share the same policy goals. Some emails implore us on to support Obama because they have children who could be sent to war under Republican John McCain. Some emails implore us to support Obama because of abortion rights and Supreme Court appointments.

The problem with all these emails are that they do not accept what we know to be true: Obama is not qualifed to be president. Obama is a divider. Obama race-baited, and gay-bashed, and woman hated, throughout the primary. That is how Barack Obama would govern.

Spare us your emails, We Do Not Trust Obama. Obama cannot be trusted by either “friend” or foe. We do not believe anything Obama says. We will not be “red flagged” like bulls into supporting the unqualified, race-baiting, and gay-bashing, and woman hating, Barack Obama. Hope that Obama is telling the truth this time about abortion, the Supreme Court, the Iraq War, the economy, or uniting the country is not enough. We don’t believe or trust Barack Obama because we have seen him close up and examined his “present” voting record and been burned by his race-baiting.

* * *

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, a strong Hillary Clinton supporter during the primaries is now falling in line and supporting Obama. But Governor Rendell still knows and occasionally tells the truth that Big Media wants to hide in order to protect Big Media tool Barack Obama.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell was supposed to give “closing remarks” during this afternoon’s Shorenstein Center-sponsored panel discussion with all three Sunday show moderators — NBC’s Tom Brokaw, ABC’s George Stephanopoulous and CBS’s Bob Schieffer — but instead, he opened up a can of worms about bias in 2008 election coverage

“Ladies and gentleman, the coverage of Barack Obama was embarrassing,” said Rendell, in the ballroom at Denver’s Brown Palace Hotel. “It was embarrassing.”

Rendell, an ardent Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter during the primaries, now backs Obama in the general election. Brokaw and Rendell began debating campaign coverage, including the on-air comments by Lee Cowan, and when MSNBC came up, Rendell went after the cable network.

“MSNBC was the official network of the Obama campaign,” Rendell said, who called their coverage “absolutely embarrassing.”

Chris Matthews, Rendell said, “loses his impartiality when he talks about the Clintons.”

That was met with applause from the crowd of big-time media figures, which included Arianna Huffington, Gwen Ifill, Al Hunt, and Chuck Todd.

Americans won’t vote for Big Media tool Barack Obama.

Which brings us to our topic of the day.

Hillary Clinton won the big Democratic states, the Big Blue states with big electoral votes that are a must win for a Democrat to win the White House. Bill Clinton won the Big Blue states twice – the first Democratic president since the great Franklin Delano Roosevelt to win reelection.

John McCain is watching and laughing as the Democratic Civil War spreads. John McCain is moving closer and closer to election in NOvember.

Obama is a loser, dividing the Democratic Party and trying to race-bait his way into the White House.

It’s a dead heat in the race for the White House. The first national poll conducted entirely after Barack Obama publicly named Joe Biden as his running mate suggests that battle for the presidency between the Illinois senator and Republican rival John McCain is all tied up.

In a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll out Sunday night, 47 percent of those questioned are backing Obama with an equal amount supporting the Arizona senator.

“This looks like a step backward for Obama, who had a 51 to 44 percent advantage last month,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

Hillary Clinton is a winner. Hillary Clinton can easily win the Big Blue Democratic states and unify the white working class voter with the African-American voter.

So what’s the difference now?

It may be supporters of Hillary Clinton, who still would prefer the Senator from New York as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.

Sixty-six percent of Clinton supporters, registered Democrats who want Clinton as the nominee, are now backing Obama. That’s down from 75 percent in the end of June. Twenty-seven percent of them now say they’ll support McCain, up from 16 percent in late June.

“The number of Clinton Democrats who say they would vote for McCain has gone up 11 points since June, enough to account for most although not all of the support McCain has gained in that time,” says Holland.

Democrats kick off their nominating convention in Denver today expecting strong gains up and down the ballot, even in many historically Republican counties and states. Their optimism is fueled by widespread discontent with the Bush administration, anxiety over the economy, rising Democratic registration, unprecedented turnout in primaries and record fundraising by Obama.

The political energy is on the Democrats’ side.

All that political energy is going to waste because of Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi/Kennedy/Kerry.

In early June the Obama campaign concocted a PowerPoint presentation to demonstrate how Obama would win. [The PowerPoint presentation is HERE – You must have PowerPoint to view.]

Some of the presentation points include noting the electoral votes by state from 2004 which resulted in President George W. Bush’s reelection with 286 electoral votes, Sen. John Kerry’s defeat with 252.

The presentation notes that Obama is “going up on television early” in the following states: Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Virginia. [snip]

“Obama Consolidating Democrats as He Builds Strength Among Independents,” Plouffe said, showing Obama pretty much tied with independents. (Color me naïve, but this one seemed pretty weak to me.)

“Winning in Traditional Battleground States,” he said, referring to the June 18th Quinnipiac Poll showing Obama ahead in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. [snip]

Plouffe quotes McCain adviser Carly Fiorina on CNN in May: “The RNC is raising money very specifically for the presidential campaign, and by the rules the money that the RNC raises can be used for the presidential campaign. So, it actually is very relevant to talk about what the RNC raises.”.

And — ouch — the last card shows the DNC’s $4.4 million cash on hand compared to the RNC’s $53.6 million.

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has put the brakes on ads that were running in seven states carried by the GOP in the 2004 presidential election, FOX News has learned.

Of the seven states — including Alaska, Georgia, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota — Florida and Virginia are considered key battlegrounds this year. Obama’s decision to stop advertising in those states is raising eyebrows. [snip]

When Obama’s campaign took over the Democratic Party earlier this year, it embraced Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy, which is aimed at courting Democrats nationwide. The strategy has generated controversy, though, because many Democrats say it wastes money in states where they have no chance of winning.

Obama thought that he could punk McCain into “defending” red states that McCain has in the bag. Instead McCain punked Obama. Obama wasted millions in states like Georgia to goad McCain into wasting money. McCain ignored Obama’s feint and instead it was Obama who wasted money.

Ohio—with 20 Electoral College votes–moved from Toss-up to Leans Republican following the second straight Rasmussen Reports telephone survey that showed McCain with a modest lead over Obama.

North Carolina—with 15 Electoral College votes—moved from Leans Republican to Likely Republican. This change was based on the latest Rasmussen Reports polling and changes in the RasmussenMarkets.com data.

Wisconsin—with 10 Electoral College votes—moved from Likely Democratic to Leans Democratic. That move was prompted by the latest Rasmussen Reports polling which shows McCain closing to within four percentage points of Obama.

Colorado—with 9 Electoral College votes–moved from Leans Democratic to Toss-Up, based primarily upon the latest Rasmussen Reports poll in which McCain holds a statistically insignificant two-point lead over Obama.

Oregon—with 7 Electoral College votes—moved from Likely Democratic to Leans Democratic. While the latest Rasmussen Reports polling shows Obama with a 10-point lead, the average of other polls and a national trends adjustment places the state in the leaner category.

South Dakota—with 3 Electoral College votes–shifted from Leans Republican to Likely Republican based upon Rasmussen Markets data and a national trends adjustment.

Other states had more minor changes: Connecticut from Safely Democratic to Likely Democratic, Louisiana from Likely Republican to Safely Republican, Maine from Safely Democratic to Likely Democratic, and Tennessee from Likely Republican to Safely Republican. [snip]

As a practical matter, all of the state-by-state changes are driven by the changes seen nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. In early and mid-June, Obama consistently enjoyed a lead in the five-percentage point range. That has disappeared, with the two contenders now generally within a point or two of each other. The state polls are not conducted as frequently but typically follow the national trend.

Fewer than half of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s supporters in the presidential primaries say they definitely will vote for Barack Obama in November, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, evidence of a formidable challenge facing Democrats as their national convention opens here today.

In the survey, taken Thursday through Saturday, 47% of Clinton supporters say they are solidly behind Obama, and 23% say they support him but may change their minds before the election.

Thirty percent say they will vote for Republican John McCain, someone else or no one at all. [snip]

Obama has not eased concerns about his depth of experience: 57% worry he lacks the experience to be an effective president, and 44% question whether he could handle the responsibilities of commander in chief. He is preferred by double digits over McCain on handling the economy, but a GOP drumbeat on taxes seems to be working: A majority of those surveyed predict Obama will raise their federal income taxes if elected.

A graphic representation of the electoral vote map shows that McCain has solidified the red states. The Obama campaign boast that McCain would have to defend the red states while Obama would be viable in red states is a false boast.

Indeed, it is McCain who has solidified the red Republican states and it is Obama who has to defend blue states. According to the electoral vote map Obama is still performing weakly in true blue states like New York and Oregon. Pennsylvania and Michigan along with Minnesota, Wisconsin and New Mexico might easily go Republican in this “Democratic year”.

Meanwhile McCain and the Republicans are fighting a smart battle in the finance front. McCain regularly sends emails asking for money for the Republican National Committee while Obama asks for money for himself. McCain will receive $84 million in public financing which will go exclusively to salaries for his relatively small staff and for television advertisements. All the pro-McCain field operations and get out the vote operations will be funded in cooperation with “Victory” coordination committees funded by the RNC. Obama will have to pay for field operations and voter registration and salaries and advertisements on the back of Democratic donors.

In summary, McCain has unified the Republican party and his finance operation will have more than enough money to compete for the two months between the end of the Republican convention and election day. The unqualified Obama has a Democratic Civil War to fight and tons of money to raise which will take time out from his vacation schedule.

Ready on Day 1 Hillary can win this election for Democrats. Unqualified, divisive Obama cannot win.

We will not surrender the Democratic Party of FDR and Clinton to the Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi/Kenndy/Kerry clique.

We will not reward race-baiting, gay-bashing, women-hating. We will not Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.

When he was a boy, Chicago White Sox baseball player Joe Jackson had a blister on his foot so he took off his shoe. Thereafter he was nicknamed “shoeless”. In 1919 “Shoeless Joe” Jackson helped fix the World Series.

The fix of the 1919 World series was called the “Black Sox Scandal”. Myth has it that a young gullible fan watching as “Shoeless Joe” emerged from the Grand Jury investigating the “Black Sox Scandal”, cried out to “Shoeless” “Say It Ain’t So, Joe!”

* * *

Any American, particularly those from Florida and Michigan, who lived through the 2008 election cycle feels what that little boy felt back in 1919. Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi fixed the contest by removing the Democratic grassroots voter from the process. “Get out Hillary” became their mantra after the very first contest.

Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi and the Hopium satiated nutroots think the fix will be forgotten. They are wrong.

Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelosi and the Hopium satiated nutroots think Obama’s lack of qualifications and flip-flop flim-flams will be forgotten. They are wrong.

He’s a lot more conventional than advertised. Obama has promised a different and more consensus-oriented brand of politics but more often than not has done what most politicians do: switched positions to soothe voters, dodged the unpredictability of town hall meetings and gone for the jugular when he sees it. The Biden pick — the most important choice Obama has made to date in his public career — was safe and traditional. Two male career politicians from the Senate is hardly transformational. [snip]

Biden, who pulled out of the Democratic race after finishing fifth in Iowa, raised serious questions about Obama’s readiness to handle national security in the primaries. Biden said things like this a year ago: “If the Democrats think we’re going to be able to nominate someone who can win without that person being able to [bring to the] table unimpeachable credentials on national security and foreign policy, I think we’re making a tragic mistake.” That criticism hurt then because it echoed the precise case made by Clinton in the nomination contest. It’s hurting now because Republicans are using Biden’s words against Obama in a new ad.

We are happy that Hillary will not be soiled by association with the Chicago thug machine. But we do not doubt that Hillary Clinton is simply the best. The Daily News wrote it up this way:

Clinton is head and shoulders above the names that have been bruited about as being on Obama’s short list: Sens. Joe Biden and Evan Bayh, of Delaware and Indiana, and Govs. Kathleen Sebelius and Tim Kaine, of Kansas and Virginia.

Clinton has exponentially more support than any of them, as shown by the 18 million voters who cast ballots for her in the Democratic primaries.

She proved herself tough as nails through the long contest, and she outdoes the others in the heft factor.

Endorsing Clinton over Obama in the New York primary, we wrote:

“After eight years at the side of President Clinton and seven years representing New York in the U.S. Senate, she is clear-eyed both about the demands of the globe’s toughest job and about using the power that comes with it. She would try to lead by doing.

“Her celebrity status notwithstanding, Clinton is at heart a worker in the trenches. She has an encyclopedic knowledge of the issues, and her success in the Senate on behalf of New Yorkers attests to both relentless attention to detail and skill at working the levers of power.”

Those thoughts are as true for the vice presidency.

After eight years of President Bush and with the economy in the tank, Obama should be on a glide path to winning, but he isn’t. He is neck and neck with John McCain in the polls, with one survey even showing McCain in the lead.

What he needs is an electrifying jolt of Clintonian proportions. A burst that rallies her wavering, if not alienated, supporters to his side. A bit of fusion that helps Obama connect with reluctant working-class voters, as well as with a broader electorate harboring doubts that Obama has the experience to answer the famous 3a.m. phone call.

Would Biden, Bayh, Sebelius or Kaine deliver Clinton-scale megawattage? Would virtually any other Democrat? Uh-uh. The getting-to-know-you phase alone would dim the lights.

Like many women who excel at their jobs, Hillary was disrespected. Passed over. Hillary must be the Democratic nominee if this is truly going to be a Democratic year. Obama could not handle that comparison or that truth.

Hillary is more than qualified to be president. Obama is not qualified to be president.

Once again Barack Obama proves his lack of judgement, experience, and decency. Barack Obama is not qualified to be president.

Big Media tool Barack Obama has finally made a decision and chosen Big Media favorite Joe Biden to join the Chicago circus. Biden is an experience patch on the flat tire of experience which is Barack Obama. This deflated tire won’t roll.

* * *

Celestial choirs sang this morning because Hillary Clinton was spared the pestilence of even being considered seriously by the Chicago thugs for membership in their circus. Hillary Clinton and Hillary Clinton supporters were insulted once again. But we are happy about this latest insult. This latest Obama insult confirms once again our view of Obama and makes our opposition much easier. NObama. NOvember.

Once again, with Obama the jokes write themselves. The McCain campaign will illustrate the silliness of the Biden in full very soon.

In picking Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, Barack Obama sought to shore up his weakness — inexperience in office and on foreign policy — rather than underscore his strength as a new-generation candidate defying political conventions.

He picked a 35-year veteran of the Senate — the ultimate insider — rather than a candidate from outside Washington, such as Govs. Tim Kaine of Virginia or Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas; or from outside his party, such as Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska; or from outside the mostly white male club of vice presidential candidates. Hillary Rodham Clinton didn’t even make his short list.

The picks say something profound about Obama: For all his self-confidence, the 47-year-old Illinois senator worried that he couldn’t beat Republican John McCain without help from a seasoned politician willing to attack. The Biden selection is the next logistical step in an Obama campaign that has become more negative — a strategic decision that may be necessary but threatens to run counter to his image.[snip]

After all, Biden is anything but a change agent, having been in office longer than half of all Americans have been alive. Longer than McCain. [snip]’

And there’s the 2007 ABC interview in which Biden said he would stand by an earlier statement that Obama was not ready to serve as president.

It seems Obama is worried that some voters are starting to agree.

When Obama touted his strongest experience in foreign relations as being a six year old child living abroad Biden made a funny. Remember:

TERRY MORAN: So let’s talk about experience, which you talk about a lot. You said recently that the strongest experience you have in foreign relations is that you grew up for four years as a child in Southeast Asia.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Well, that’s not exactly what I said. What I said was I think one of the things that sets me apart is that I spent time in other countries.

No, Barack, that is exactly what you said:“Probably the strongest experience I have in foreign relations is the fact that I spent four years living overseas when I was a child in southeast Asia.”

Terry Moran could have easily quoted ABC News’ own published reports to contradict Obama, but we suppose Terry does not read his own network’s reports.

If Terry does not watch or read his own networks reports, he could have watched CNN which had this amusing comment from Senator Joe Biden when Obama’s foolish statement first aired:

Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also joined the fray Tuesday afternoon when asked what he thought of Obama’s comments.

On October 13, 2007 we wrote the appropriately titled Stinky B.O.. We highlighted, repeatedly, something Senator Biden said about Barack Obama and Obama’s whining and lying about the Kyl/Lieberman non-binding resolution:

“I wonder why he wasn’t there to vote,” Biden said. “We all knew that this vote was coming up.”

Let’s repeat that, yet again, so it sinks in:

“I wonder why he wasn’t there to vote,” Biden said. “We all knew that this vote was coming up.”

Maybe Joe can get the answer to that question for the American voter. Obama attacked Hillary because she bothered to vote. Obama skipped town. Obama did not even bother to vote “present”.

Obama lied about why he did not vote on Kyle-Lieberman. Will Joe Biden call Obama out on his lies?

Since he returned from vacation in Hawaii last week, Mr. Obama has intensified his focus on the economic pressures facing everyday Americans and portrayed Mr. McCain as an active participant in the policies of the last eight years, saying they have left more people behind.

Instead of focusing on the promise of sweeping change that propelled him to the nomination, Mr. Obama this week has been echoing Bill Clinton’s 1992 promise to “fight for you every single day.” The tightened message is part of a continuing effort since the primaries to bring his oratory down to a more human scale.

It also coincides with Mr. Obama’s slip in public opinion polls, with some, including the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, putting him and Mr. McCain neck and neck.

As part of the Obama bamboozle and flim-flam tour, Obama yesterday tried to smear John McCain as “out of touch” spiced with the notion that McCain is too old and can’t remember how many houses he owns.

Many of Obama’s friends, like John Kerry, have many houses and some are quite expensive mansions. Some of Obama’s friends, like Robert Wexler, make up stories about what houses they actually live in. Some of Obama’s friends, like Senator’s Dodd and Conrad, follow Obama’s example and receive questionable help to purchase their homes and investment houses.

The Obama smear led to Second City Chicago comedy. By the end of the day Obama was not laughing.

That’s right Hillary.

The John McCain campaign walked through the big door Obama opened.

The Obama worshiping nutroots were happy. The dementia of these incense burners was displayed in their logic. According to the incense burners Obama had now opened the door to discussion of the decades old “Keating Five” scandal that would destroy John McCain. More importantly for the Obama worshipping dens of Hopium eaters they finally saw signs of life oozing from the Obama corpse campaign.

But if decades old scandals become relevant, does that not hurt Obama? A brand new organization with millions of dollars to spend ($2.8 million in Ohio and Michigan alone) thought the answer was clearly “Yes”.[Transcript of advertisement HERE]

Fox News comic Sean Hannity joked “Which is more important, the number of houses Cindy [McCain] owns, or the number of houses Obama’s friends have blown up?”

But as damaging as the independent advertisment against Obama running mate Ayres what scared the Obama campaign the most was the strength of the response from John McCain and the Republican Party.

McCain and the Republicans clearly will use all the research and investigation from here at Big Pink and take that knowledge to the airwaves. The attack this time will not be just Hillary the candidate making statements about Rezko only to be ignored by Big Media. The coordinated expose Obama operation will come from paid advertisements exposing Obama’s ugly connections.

The campaign was getting the site ready Thursday afternoon. McCain surrogates on television were being armed with facts about Rezko’s relationship to Obama’s purchase of his Chicago home in 2005.

Previewing the message the campaign will seek to drive, a McCain spokesman said: “In an attempt to make something stick, Barack Obama has re-aired his dirty laundry with convicted felon Tony Rezko that led to a highly questionable land deal. Rezko’s dirty dealings are well-documented and his relationship with Barack Obama goes back 20 years.”

Big Media will try to protect Obama from his dirty running mates. That is why it is important for paid advertisments to be aired and not allow John McCain to be smeared. John McCain’s campaign will protect McCain from getting smeared and is following “The Gergen Rule“.

Hillary personally mentioned Rezko during the primaries but Big Media, as with John Edwards, protected Barack Obama. Paid advertisements circumvent Big Media protection of Obama. Obama, like John Edwards with his floozy, opened a door and McCain and his campaign are now walking in:

Sen. John McCain’s campaign is finishing a hard-hitting television ad highlighting Barack Obama ‘s ties to shady Chicago land dealer Tony Rezko, the one-time Obama patron who was convicted earlier this summer of fraud.

A campaign official said that the decision to Go Rezko was Obama’s. “He’s opened the door to this,” the official said. [snip]

Though McCain is widely perceived to to drawn first blood by attacking Obama’s character, the official said that the difference between Obama’s mocking McCain for his wealth and his shaky answer on the number of homes he owns was that McCain’s charge “reflects an existential reality,” where Obama’s charges “attack Cindy. She owns the homes. I thought he said the wives were off-limits.”

The McCain camp will not be swiftboated by the Chicago mud machine. The McCain campaign yesterday also released a document highlighting Obama’s running mate Rezko:

Hed: “OBAMA’S HOUSING PROBLEM”

Subhed: “Brought To You By Convicted Felon Tony Rezko”

“Obama Engaged In Deal With Convicted Felon To Get Deal On House That Had Four Fireplaces And A Wine Cellar.”

Obama Paid $300,000 Less Than The Asking Price For His Mansion, While Tony Rezko’s Wife Paid Full Price For A Vacant Lot Next Door On The Very Same Day. “Two years ago, Obama bought a mansion on the South Side, in the Kenwood neighborhood, from a doctor. On the same day, [Antoin ‘Tony’] Rezko’s wife, Rita Rezko, bought the vacant lot next door from the same seller. The doctor had listed the properties for sale together. He sold the house to Obama for $300,000 below the asking price. The doctor got his asking price on the lot from Rezko’s wife.” (Tim Novak, “Obama And His Rezko Ties,” Chicago Sun-Times, 4/23/07)

The Seller Of Obama’s Home “Wanted To Sell Both Properties At The Same Time.” “On the same day Obama closed on his house, Rezko’s wife bought the adjacent empty lot, meeting the condition of the seller who wanted to sell both properties at the same time.” (Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz, “The Rezko Connection,” ABC News’ “The Blotter” Blog, abcnews.go.com, 1/10/08)

Obama Later Purchased A Portion Of Rezko’s Land For $104,500; It Was Valued At $40,500. “Later, the Obamas bought a 10-foot-by-150-foot piece of the lot for $104,500. An appraisal put the value of the strip at $40,500, a spokesman said, but Obama considered it fair to pay one-sixth of the original price for one-sixth of the lot.” (Peter Slevin, “Obama Says He Regrets Land Deal With Fundraiser,” The Washington Post, 12/17/06)

Rezko Was Convicted Of Wire And Mail Fraud, Money Laundering, And Aiding And Abetting Bribery. “A federal jury today convicted developer Antoin ‘Tony’ Rezko of corruption charges for trading on his clout as a top adviser and fundraiser to Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Rezko’s guilty verdict on 16 of 24 corruption counts could have broad repercussions for Blagojevich, who made Rezko a central player in his kitchen cabinet. It could also prove a political liability for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, who once counted Rezko as a friend and fundraiser, as the likely Democratic presidential nominee heads into the general election campaign against Republican John McCain. … The jury convicted Rezko of wire and mail fraud, money laundering and aiding and abetting bribery. He was acquitted of attempted extortion.” (Bob Secter and Jeff Coen, “Rezko Convicted Of Corruption,” Chicago Tribune, 6/4/08)

NOTE: The 3 Story House Has Four Fireplaces And A Wine Cellar. “When Obama and his wife, Michelle, a hospital executive, decided to move with their two young girls from their Hyde Park condominium, they chose a spacious three-story Georgian revival home on a tree-lined street in the Kenwood neighborhood, not far from the University of Chicago. The owner had listed the house — nearly 100 years old, with four fireplaces and a wine cellar — and an adjacent lot as separate parcels.” (Peter Slevin, “Obama Says He Regrets Land Deal With Fundraiser,” The Washington Post, 12/17/06)

Obama Provided Political Favors To Tony Rezko, Including Writing Letters On His Behalf:

“As A State Senator, Barack Obama Wrote Letters To City And State Officials Supporting His Political Patron Tony Rezko’s Successful Bid To Get More Than $14 Million From Taxpayers To Build Apartments For Senior Citizens.” (Tim Novak, “Obama’s Letters For Rezko,” Chicago Sun-Times, 6/13/07)

The Letters Show That Obama Did Do A Political Favor For Rezko. “Obama’s letters, written nearly nine years ago, for the first time show the Democratic presidential hopeful did a political favor for Rezko – a longtime friend, campaign fund-raiser and client of the law firm where Obama worked – who was indicted last fall on federal charges that accuse him of demanding kickbacks from companies seeking state business under Gov. Blagojevich.” (Tim Novak, “Obama’s Letters For Rezko,” Chicago Sun-Times, 6/13/07)

FLASHBACK: In December Of 2006, Obama Said He Had “Never Done Any Favors For Him.” “The letters appear to contradict a statement last December from Obama, who told the Chicago Tribune that, in all the years he’s known Rezko, ‘I’ve never done any favors for him.'” (Tim Novak, “Obama’s Letters For Rezko,” Chicago Sun-Times, 6/13/07)

Rezko Offered Obama A Job After Law School And The Two Have Been Friends Ever Since:

Rezko Offered Obama A Job When He Was A Harvard Law Student And The Two Have Stayed In Touch Ever Since. “One of them was Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who was offered a job by Rezko in the early 1990s while a top student at Harvard Law School. Obama did not take it, but over the years, the two men stayed in touch…” (Peter Slevin, “Obama Says He Regrets Land Deal With Fundraiser,” The Washington Post, 12/17/06)

Rezko Was One Of Obama’s Biggest Fundraisers, Raising $250,000 For His Campaigns:

Rezko Was “One Of The Biggest Fundraisers” For Obama. “‘This was discussed a lot. They wanted to have a good showing,’ said a source familiar with the fund-raiser [Rezko held for Obama], speaking on condition of anonymity. ‘Tony was one of the biggest fund-raisers.'” (Chris Fusco and Tim Novak, “Rezko Cash Triple What Obama Says,” Chicago Sun-Times, 6/18/07)

Obama Has Admitted To $250,000 Worth Of Campaign Funding Provided By Tony Rezko. “For the first time, Sen. Barack Obama put a figure Friday to the amount of campaign contributions that indicted political fund-raiser Tony Rezko raised for the senator’s campaigns, and the number — about $250,000 — was far more than he previously acknowledged.” (Tim Novak, Chris Fusco, Dave McKinney and Carol Marin, “More Rezko Dough Found,” Chicago Sun-Times, 3/15/08)

Obama And Rezko’s Socializing Included Their Wives And A Trip To Rezko’s Lake House:

Obama And Rezko Would Also Socialize With Their Wives Over Dinner. Obama: “In terms of other than lunch or breakfast he and I had, socially, Michelle and I probably had a couple of dinners, or two or three dinners with [Rezko] and his wife during the course of this six or seven or eight years.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Interview With Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago, IL, 3/15/08)

The Obamas And Rezkos Took A Trip Together To Rezko’s Home At Lake Geneva, WI. Obama: “[Barack And Michelle Obama] Visited their home in Lake Geneva once for the day.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Interview With Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago, IL, 3/15/08)

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We lost the great Congresswoman and fighter Stephanie Tubbs-Jones yesterday.

We remember when Stephanie challenged the electoral college vote in the 2004 election cycle because she cared about the voters of Ohio and she knew something had gone dreadfully awry or been tampered with to defeat the intent of the voters of Ohio. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones did what was right not caring if others in the electoral college would support her protest. Stephanie was a fighter. We love fighters.

We won’t eulogize Stephanie today. We’ll leave that tribute for a later day. The challenge for us today is to live up to the ideals of Stephanie Tubbs-Jones. The challenge for us today is to work extra hard to fill the void left by the great Congresswoman from Ohio.

* * *

Big Media is making a big whoop-te-do about the luggage being stowed on board the Obama Titanic. Fact is, the Obama Titanic is going under the waves. Obama will concede in August or in NOvember.

If the Democratic Party of Obama/Dean/Brazile/Pelois persists in its corruption and selects Obama at the Denver convention it will die. It will commit suicide. The Democratic Party will commit suicide.

Since early June we have received communications from the incense fogged Hopium dens. The language cloying, sickly sweet, always the same – Hillary will have to get Obama the white working class vote – Hillary will have to get Obama the women’s vote. At times the communications have stated that a woman governor as a vice presidential Obama running mate would destroy the NObama NOvember movement (this is how little the incense burners understand determined Hillary supporters). At all times the communications have been delusional.

Let’s be clear: It will either be Hillary nominated as the Democratic Party candidate in August – or NObama, NOvember. Is that clear enough?

The Obama Titanic will sail at dawn to meet its fate with the great iceberg, the Phantom Menace, the American voter.

It does not matter who Obama selects for vice president nor how much money Obama spends nor how many big rallies Obama organizes, nor how many flowery speeches Obama mouths. Obama is not electable.

Obama is not electable for a very simple reason – Obama is not qualified to be president of the United States.

Obama ran a race-baiting, and gay-bashing, and woman hating campaign. Obama was awarded delegates by a corrupt Democratic National Committee that the voters had denied Obama. Obama ran a campaign attacking core Democratic values. Obama attacked the record of the ONLY Democratic president elected to two terms, since the presidency of the great Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

We will never support Barack Obama. Hillary supporters will never vote for Barack Obama. The attacks on Hillary were attacks on us too, not just Hillary. We were demeaned and vilified as well as Hillary. We voted and supported Hillary because she has a lifetime of experience and is simply the best there is. It was not hero(ine) worship, nor was it a cult. We were utterly selfish – we voted and supported Hillary not to grace her with deserved honors but because she was the best – for us all.

Hillary supporters are not going to the back of the bus. We will not reward sexism and misogyny and the gang rape of an excellent woman candidate for the benefit of an unqualified younger man who flim-flams and charms the Party elites. NO. NObama. NOvember.

* * *

Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton:

“There are few words to express the shock we feel at this time. Our deepest condolences are with Stephanie’s son, Mervyn, her family, and her many loved ones, friends, and supporters.

Stephanie’s friendship meant the world to us, a friendship that deepened through every trial and challenge. We could always count on her to be a shoulder on which to lean, an ear to bend, a voice to reassure. Over the course of many years, with many ups and many downs, Stephanie was right by our side—unwavering, indefatigable.

It was that fighting spirit—safely stowed behind her disarming smile, backed by so much integrity and fiery intelligence—that allowed Stephanie to rise from modest beginnings, to succeed in public service, to become a one-woman force for progress in our country.

All of us who were lucky to know her and love her can only hope now to live like her—to be as passionate, loyal, hard charging, and joyful in life’s pursuits.

Stephanie was one of a kind. We will miss our friend always.”

After the Hillary victory in Ohio Stephanie Tubbs-Jones marched to Pennsylvania with a message for Pennsylvania voters: “Step-UP“. The voters of Pennsylvania listened and they stepped up to their responsibilities.

The Superdelegates had now better “Step-UP”. The Democratic Party is about to commit suicide and an “intervention” is needed if it is to be saved before destruction in NOvember.

Stephanie Tubbs-Jones spoke for us and for Hillary to the people of Pennsylvania. The people listened. Will the Superdelegates listen?

It’s not for Hillary’s sake the Superdelegates should listen to the Democratic grassroots. It’s for our sakes and their own survival that Superdelegates should nominate Hillary. We still think that:

If the Superdelegates do wake up to their pending destruction before next week’s vote in Denver it would serve them well if Hillary Clinton would walk away from them.

It would teach a great lesson to the authors (Dean/Brazile/Pelosi/Kennedy/Kerry) of the Obama atrocity if Hillary Clinton would refuse to rescue the Democratic Party as it becomes clearer and clearer they are on board the Titantic.

But the message from Stephanie Tubbs-Jones to the people of Pennsylvania still resonates within us. This is still time for a happy alternative to the mass suicide in Denver. There is still a smile left before the Denver atrocity.

Like Mona Lisa from the Louvre, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones is sending Superdelegates a Hillary Clinton Smile.